As sports fans across the nation ponder the implications of having a dedicated pick-up basketball player and known sports fanatic as our Commander-in-Chief, it’s worth noting today that Obama’s geographical and not athletic affiliation may prove to have the greatest impact on the future of sports in America.

Obama already has been active in Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, and given his newfound stature in the world right now, it’s not hard to imagine that his full-fledged support as President would bring the Summer Games to the Windy City for the first time in history.

Japanese officials behind Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Games are all but conceding today, admitting that one of Obama’s trademark speeches as part of a Chicago presentation to the IOC would be tough to beat.

The other two cities that are finalists for the 2016 Olympics are Rio de Janeiro and Madrid. When the four finalists were announced this summer, a widening rift between the IOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee over television revenues was reported to be a serious threat to Chicago’s chances, with the American city viewed as the longshot of the four finalists to secure the eventual bid.

To say the situation has changed since then, changed last night in fact, is to put it mildly. The decision for the 2016 host city will be made by the IOC in October of 2009 after presentations are made by each finalist in Copenhagen. If Obama can find time in his schedule to crash that party, fugheddaboudit. Mayor Daley can gear up the kickback train, MJ can get ready for another comeback, and Oprah can start training for the triathlon, cause the five rings will be on their way to Chi-town.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated (which isn't online yet), great American sprinter Carl Lewis "questioned Usain Bolt's stunning successes at the Beijing Olympics because Jamaica does not enforce random drug tests," according to a story on the interview by the BBC. But here's the quote the Beeb excerpts, which seems like far strong, more accusatory language.

"But to run 10.03 seconds one year and 9.69 the next, if you don't question that in a sport with the reputation it has right now, you're a fool. Period."

For a man who obviously cares about the sanctity of his sport, Lewis sure isn't doing track any favors by pointing an accusatory finger at the game's biggest star. This is like Jack Nicklaus calling Tiger Woods' biceps chemically-enhanced, unprovoked.

Of course we wouldn't be surprised if we found some HGH in Bolt's yams, given all that's happened in sports generally and track specifically. But what's the point of walking around questioning everything, as Lewis insists we must lest we be marred as fools? Enjoy the sport, worry about PEDs when there's, you know, proof he cheated.

Stop keeping track of Shawne Merriman's unique rehab program and listen up: the Paralympics began immediately after the Olympic Games in Beijing, and shock of all shocks, they're selling tickets like crazy. Even stranger is that Chinese consumers find paying four dollars for a ticket to be far more reasonable than coughing up hundreds of dollars for Olympics tickets, and waiting in long lines to get then. (They can count, America! And make consumer goods with speed and efficiency! We're doomed!)

This runs counter to established Chinese mores regarding the disabled, which MSNBC sums up neatly:

Traditional attitudes perceive people with disabilities as cursed, making them social outcasts; an old Chinese phrase termed them "useless cripple" (can fei). In May, an official guide for Olympic volunteers was recalled after it was discovered it contained descriptions of disabled people as "stubborn and controlling."

This roaring success has not been without its own speed bumps. Three participants have been booted from the games for doping, and if you guessed that included powerlifters, then ... well, you're right, but it's usually powerlifters, so don't feel so terribly brilliant about your guess, Mr. Smugpants McLuckyGuess. An Irish athlete with cerebral palsy was shipped home, too, but for entirely different reasons: judges deemed him "not disabled enough," and sent him packing.

Without getting into specific discussion of the quality of life in sub-Saharan Africa, let's just all agree Zimbabwe's a tough place in which to be happy. Life expectancy hovers around the mid-30s, 20% of adults live with HIV, most of the country is poor and some of the country is starving. Robert Mugabe, the longtime president, is not seen as a helpful fellow.

It seems misguided, then, that Mugabe has given Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry $100,000 as a reward for winning gold for his native country. Coventry, of course, lives in the United States, where she went to college and trains. That money probably wouldn't go to better use anyway -- "corrupt" is a frequent adjective used in conjunction with Mugabe's regime. But this sullies the Olympics, I think.

It's too much to ask Coventry to refuse the award, and there's no easy solution. Public shaming doesn't exactly work with dictatorial figures. And at least Mugabe is rewarding success; it's not the same as, say, Fidel Castro giving Angel Matos a fat check for attacking a referee.

Yesterday, we brought you the news of Jose Calderon's discontent. And perhaps we were a little too scathing with regards to Mr. Calderon, who is a fantastic player and, visual racial slurs aside, a credit to the international basketball community. Today, A Stern Warning follow up their initial post with reader reaction from Calderon's home country of Spain, that clarifies all and makes the controversy a lot more concrete:

A Spanish reader has commented that the main problem that Spanish fans had, was with perceived travelling violations on the Americans which were committed where steps were taken before putting the ball down on the floor. Our friend then provided some examples of where this was an issue.

These might the perils of translated interviews: Calderon wasn't saying that different rules were in places, but that the refs weren't calling traveling like they do overseas -- which, technically, is the same way it should be called in the NBA. The issue's not what the current rules are, but whether NBA players follow the sport's most basic rules. As we all know, they sometimes don't, especially if they're LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. The post includes examples of key offenses by the Redeem Team's big two. Most awesomely, it's got Spain's Juan Carlos Navarro mocking the USA's rule-bending in the waning minutes of play.

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